Am I the only one who hates it when someone posts an obviously irritated or angry response and ends it with a smiley face?

Kinda like this: (:

It's passive aggressive and annoying. All members who use this tactic are immature and prefer angering opposition to being in an actual intellectual conversation and should go pour bleach in their eyes. Thanks. (:

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"At the end of the day you just draw pretty pictures on a field and play some rimp ska dimps."

I prefer the ones that add a bit of sarcasm and add a little 8+) at the end.

Exactly. I actually find them useful from time to time. The smiley face often denotes a degree of tongue-in-cheek or at least lets one know that the post has been written more as a tease than through any real aggression (as per my first reply Coldie....I wasn't serious and the smiley helps to reflect that).

I like them. More often than not they allow me to see the context behind the post. Face to face, we have body language, eye contact and tone of voice to make intentions easy to identify.....not so much when relying solely on the written word.

Exactly. I actually find them useful from time to time. The smiley face often denotes a degree of tongue-in-cheek or at least lets one know that the post has been written more as a tease than through any real aggression (as per my first reply Coldie....I wasn't serious and the smiley helps to reflect that).

I like them. More often than not they allow me to see the context behind the post. Face to face, we have body language and tone of voice to make intentions easy to identify.....not so much when relying solely on the written word.

"spress yoself" is what I say. Use all the tools made available to you by God n' Gates to do that.

Its a lot less painful than having to read the next six posts explaining the tone and manner and what was actually meant in the first one.

+1

I like emoticons. If I do a smiley then it means I'm either smiling as I type or smiling inside. Emoticons and lol etc help bridge the gap between the written word and body language, especially when dealing with people you've never met face to face.

I don't mind how people express themselves if I like what's being expressed. Better still if a person writes with a fair level of grammar, spelling and eloquence, but I'm fine with any amount of clunkiness if the thoughts expressed are wise.

Life's too short to waste passing judgement on people for misdemeanours.

Am I the only one who hates it when someone posts an obviously irritated or angry response and ends it with a smiley face?

Kinda like this: (:

It's passive aggressive and annoying. All members who use this tactic are immature and prefer angering opposition to being in an actual intellectual conversation and should go pour bleach in their eyes. Thanks. (:

If there is a smiley face, how do you know the post in angry?

I've seen a lot of posts where someone took something to be mean/angry when the writer was not intending to to be mean/angry.

It's all plain text, and and people tend to insert what tone of voice they think the writer is using, when it may or may not be the case. Emoticons can be helping to better state the proper tone of voice to distinguish what is an angry post vs a happy post, or otherwise.

Am I the only one who hates it when someone posts an obviously irritated or angry response and ends it with a smiley face?

Kinda like this: (:

It's passive aggressive and annoying. All members who use this tactic are immature and prefer angering opposition to being in an actual intellectual conversation and should go pour bleach in their eyes. Thanks. (:

What exactly has brought this on then? I agree with everyone else that emoticons are there to be used on forums in the absence of any other way of expressing emotion, aside from using the written word, which can be extremely cumbersome and difficult to use for people who aren't Earnest Hemmingway. (I know nothing about Earnest Hemmingway except that he has the same intials as me but he was in this crap film that my mum made me watch on monday so that's the only reason I'm mentioning him).

I usually use the "sticking out the tongue" smiley for sarcasm or bad jokes.

:P

I've always wondered what :P was, thanks Caddy! I like the reverse smily better too (: These little things certainly are great for communicating a tone, & clearly, especially good for winding up CHS (;

I generally avoid emoticons, although I will occasionally use one to express a sincere emotion or after a joke to make sure the person knows it was a joke. I will never use one sarcastically, though, like dropping a smiley at the end of a mean-spirited remark. That just sucks. I really hate the rolleyes emoticon. That should never be used by anyone, anywhere, ever. It's inexcusable and should result in a permanent forum ban. And preferably physical abuse, too.

I will never use one sarcastically, though, like dropping a smiley at the end of a mean-spirited remark.

I don't see that often at all. At times I've seen people do a little teasing ... in which case finishing with a smile is to invite a tease back. Sometimes things that are said are taken more seriously than they are intended. That's the problem in "talking" with strangers using only the written word.

I never give emoticons a thought ... before the web people generally wrote informally to people they knew, so there was enough trust to mean emoticons weren't needed. Emoticons are just something done on the web to allow strangers to communicate more effectively in writing, making up for the lack of facial expressions.

There is a view that emoticons reduce the gravitas of communication and those who use them are dismissed as lightweights. Sure, emoticons don't belong in formal business or academic writing. But to dismiss them in an informal forum is rather pompous and stodgy, don't you think?

If people want to be taken seriously and see emoticons banned then they should be writing detailed and structured posts of at least 1,000 words, with references (using the Harvard system?).

I don't see that often at all. At times I've seen people do a little teasing ... in which case finishing with a smile is to invite a tease back. Sometimes things that are said are taken more seriously than they are intended. That's the problem in "talking" with strangers using only the written word.

Yeah, that's the good use of emoticons. A smiley that lets someone know, "I'm just messin' with ya."

But on some of the other message forums I frequent, the rolleyes is definitely used as a passive-aggressive "I'm being a dickwad" device. I just think that's lame. I'd rather be punched in the face than given that treatment. But that's just me.

I don't see that often at all. At times I've seen people do a little teasing ... in which case finishing with a smile is to invite a tease back. Sometimes things that are said are taken more seriously than they are intended. That's the problem in "talking" with strangers using only the written word.

I never give emoticons a thought ... before the web people generally wrote informally to people they knew, so there was enough trust to mean emoticons weren't needed. Emoticons are just something done on the web to allow strangers to communicate more effectively in writing, making up for the lack of facial expressions.

There is a view that emoticons reduce the gravitas of communication and those who use them are dismissed as lightweights. Sure, emoticons don't belong in formal business or academic writing. But to dismiss them in an informal forum is rather pompous and stodgy, don't you think?

If people want to be taken seriously and see emoticons banned then they should be writing detailed and structured posts of at least 1,000 words, with references (using the Harvard system?).

But on some of the other message forums I frequent, the rolleyes is definitely used as a passive-aggressive "I'm being a dickwad" device. I just think that's lame. I'd rather be punched in the face than given that treatment. But that's just me.

Fair nuff. It ain't exactly a sign of trust or goodwill between people. Personally, I'd MUCH prefer rolled eyes to a punch in the face ... but maybe that's just me :)

Cheers Sticks. The way I see it Knowledge + perceptiveness + trust + goodwill = A good thread.